From the publisher

A close colleague of J.R.R. Tolkein [sic] for many years, Arne Zettersten offers here a personally informed analysis of Tolkien's strongly visual fantasy fiction. In light of Tolkein's unusual life experience and enthusiasm for the study of languages, Zettersten finds in Tolkein's fiction the same animating passions that drove that great author as a youth, a soldier, a linguist, and an Oxford Don.